This is the only murid endemic to the Halmahara Islands where it has been recorded from Morotai, Halmahara, and Batjan islands (Musser and Carleton 2005). All known localities are from low-lying areas, but there has been no survey work in higher-elevations in these islands.

This is an arboreal species, and very agile climber. It has been trapped on the ground in gardens on the edge of primary forest, and observed it climbing in understory plants. It spends its days in burrows, the entrances to some having been found placed in particularly bare areas in new gardens (Flannery 1995). Flannery (1995) also observed this species in cocoa plantations on Batjan.

Although there is likely to be habitat loss taking place on the Halmahera islands due to logging and agriculture, this species seems fairly adaptable to human disturbance. It may be affected by competition with introduced murids, including Rattus rattus.